A Fire Flower
DB: This is Earth and Sky on the lemhi penstemon wildflowers – also called beardtongues. In summer, they bloom the color of the bluest sky imaginable.
JB: These are one of the tallest penstemons – they stretch up about 70 centimeters – about two feet – tall. The thumb-length, bugle-shaped flowers of the lemhi penstemons attract wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets . . . these polllinators have been known to rest inside the large blossoms.
DB: Lemhi penstemons grow in one small corner of the world – among sagebrush, shrubs, and grass in southwestern Montana and eastern Idaho. These plants have been classified as “sensitive,” and over the past decade researchers have monitored their populations in western forests and fields. Studied groups have ranged between hundreds of plants in some years to only one or two flowering plants in other years.
JB: Deer and cows like to eat lemhi penstemons and may be one reason for the plant’s limited range. Attempts to control forest fires might be another factor – because with less fire, stronger competitors edge out this fragile species. Researchers have been using prescribed fires to kill competitors of the lemhi penstemon. So far, managed burns have helped them hold on to their habitat – for now.
DB: That’s our show for today. Special thanks to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
The following individuals were interviewed for today’s show. Our thanks to:
Dr. John Joy
Forest Ecologist
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest
Dr. Dan Svoboda
Ecologist, Plant and Soil scientist
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest
Web links to related information:
The Penstemon Website (Ohio State University)
The Montana Natural Heritage Program lists the Lemhi penstemon in its online “guidebook:”
Author’s Notes:
Lemhi penstemons may be rare, but many of their relatives are quite common. The penstemon genus has 275 species, whose names include the woolly penstemon, the stiff leaf penstemon, and the fuzzy tongue, wax leaf, and little flower penstemons. Flowers can be blue, purple, red, white, yellow, or pink. Penstemons are native to North America, but are becoming popular in gardens around the world.
More distant relatives include snapdragons, Indian paintbrush, elephant’s head, parrot’s beak, and monkey flowers.
The lemhi penstemon’s range includes Lemhi County, Idaho. Lemhi Pass crosses the Continental Divide between Montana and Idaho. When the Lewis and Clark expedition arrived there in 1805, the pass marked the western edge of the United States. From the pass, at an altitude of 7,323 feet, the expedition first saw the headwaters of the Columbia River, which flows all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The explorers also saw with disappointment that an easy water route through the mountains to the sea would be impossible to find. The site’s significance to the Lewis and Clark expeditions earned Lemhi Pass designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1960. The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest provides information about Lemhi Pass National Historic Landmark at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/b-d/photo.htm .
Additional Teacher Resources
Montana Natural Heritage Program: The Effects of Fire on Lemhi Penstemon (Penstemon Lemhiensis)? Final Monitoring Report 1995-2000
A 40 page report on the effects of fire on the ?Beardtounge’. A bit heady at times, however the table of contents at the beginning will allow the educator to find the subject he/she wishes to cover. This report is most likely more suited towards secondary students.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Plant Data Center, Plant Fact Sheet: Penstemon
A highly informative site that contains links to plant classification, plant facts and plant source and references. A worth while site for finding basic facts for younger children.
